Ch. 8
A Strange Start
Pokemon is the property of its respective owners
In what seemed to be no time at all, Dragonite transported his passengers to the docks with the swift tailwind knocking some unfortunate onlookers off their feet and into the water. Delia, Maris, and Dmitri hurriedly disembarked off the Dragon Pokemon with Delia giving her loyal friend a quick thank you before returning him to his pokeball.
The trio did a quick scan around the docks to find the designated boat to go onto before Maris shouted "(Is it that big ocean liner with the bright neon lights that say "Heading on to the Sinnoh Region?") Maris asked her companions.
Delia blushed in embarrassment before jogging towards the boat with Maris and Dmitri close behind her with Maris telling her to "slow the flip down." When they got the too the boat they found to their joy that there was no line to impede them. So after handing the ticket to the security guard managing the non-existent line and boarding the large ocean cruiser they all decided to look around on the deck of ship.
The deck was filled to the brim with all sorts of people like business executives, young pokemon trainers, vacationing couples, and the occasional child or two. Some people however threw some sour looks at them as if they couldn't believe that they're letting Maris walk around freely while some of the teenagers grinned at the prospect of a potential battle with Delia and Dmitri.
"Well guys, the guard said our room was 21A on the fifth floor so might as well get settled in," Dmitri said.
As the made their way to their room the malicious looks from the passengers seemed to increase which caused Dmitri to instinctively pull both of his best friends closer to him which they didn't seem to mind as they too were getting the feeling of unease. After enduring mixed reactions from anyone they passed by they finally arrived at their room and all of their jaws dropped, save for Delia.
The room was elegantly decorated with the carpet being a crimson red color and the walls baring the patterns of wonderful golden streaks. Two queen sized beds lay next to each other in the center of the room while a plasma screen TV hung in the front of the room under a large mahogany cabinet.
"(Holy crap, if this is just normal housing, I'd would frickin' love to see first class rooms!)" Maris said excitedly.
Delia said nothing as she just lay down on one of the beds until she just realized they had nothing with them but the clothes on their backs (well, she always brings an extra change of clothes just in case) and her wallet which she always carried with her. She scolded herself for being so unprepared and rash on her decision to leave to leave to the docks so quickly.
"So…um…Delia, we kind of left our stuff behind at our houses, so do you just want to go to the pokemon center on to buy some supplies there?" Dmitri asked.
"I suppose, but did you bring some money with you?" Delia questioned with a raised brow.
Dmitri smiled sheepishly at her and shook his head which caused Delia to facepalm. She groaned in annoyance before saying:
"Well, I guess we can go to the top deck and see if any trainers want to have a battle. But let me change first ok. No point in staying in my school uniform the entire time during our journey."
Come to think of it, Dmitri never knew why she didn't change out of her school uniform until she got home despite Mr. Yamamoto giving everyone the chance to change into their casual wear after class. She was an enigma to him, but that's what he liked about his senpai as although he didn't know everything about her, she was his most trusted friend on the same level as Maris.
All the numerous times she stood up to bullies on his behalf, comforted him when he was feeling down, and someone to turn to when he needed to vent his feelings. He frowned a little bit when he thought back to the times when she was severely depressed or looked like she wanted to punch a wall in primal rage she flat out avoided his help and constantly told him whenever he asks her to just tell her what's bothering her she screams in absolute fury:
"Just LEAVE ME ALONE OK! What's bothering me has ABSOLUTEY NOTHING to do with you so please just walk away and leave me in PEACE!" Delia shouted at her friend numerous times when he pleaded with her to tell him what's eating away at her conscience.
"Maris, why do you think Delia keeps things hidden from me?" he asked his partner and friend curiously.
Maris stopped rolling around on the bed like a lilipup and gave a Dmitri a hard stare that translated to "Are seriously asking me this?"
"Well, if you don't want to talk about that, then why do you think all those people where giving us weird looks on our way here?" Dmitri asked her seriously.
"Because some people think that pokemon don't deserve to walk around freely amongst humans and belong in a pokeball while others think that it symbolizes that the trainer and pokemon are in love which is seen as disgusting to some people," Delia answered as she stepped out of the bathroom.
Dmitri jolted slightly before turning his head to look at Delia and blushed slightly. She, in his opinion, looked beautiful while wearing black jeans and a blue tank top which exposed a little bit of skin. Her long, silky black hair was tied back into a ponytail which seemed cute to him. This didn't go unnoticed as Maris frowned and looked herself over in the mirror.
"(He thinks I'm beautiful right?)" Maris thought to herself sadly.
She was brought out of her thoughts as Dmitri told her that they were all heading out which caused her to jump off the bed and land next to just as Delia opened the door.
"Well…Maris…since I forgot to bring a lot of money with me on this…unexpected journey, we'll have to earn some money through pokemon battles. Is that all right with you?" Dmitri asked Maris reluctantly.
Maris smirked and flexed her muscles in front of Dmitri and Delia which he laughed at while Delia rolled her eyes.
"(Dmitri, puh-leeze, just who do you think you're asking? So let's go up there and kick some butt!)" Maris said enthusiastically as the trio continued to walk down the elegantly decorated corridor.
After some debate, they all decided to ignore all the dirty looks they would receive and took the elevator as it would be the fastest way to the upper deck. Some people where kind and didn't bat an eye at the trio at a pokemon taking an elevator while some people complained about the lack of space and outright demanded Dmitri to put Maris back in her pokeball to make room for other passengers.
Every time Dmitri ignored the ones who asked him to put his best friend in a cramped ball while Delia tried her best to restrain herself from yelling at one old woman who was practically trying to take Dmitri's pokeball from him and putting Maris in herself.
"Put that beast in its pokeball! It's there so these beasts don't have to walk amongst us and to save space for their masters. Shame on you for not being taught properly on how to raise a pokemon," the old lady said with rage and disappointment lacing every word.
Delia managed to tell her to calm down and "to bother someone who cares about what she has to say." The old woman snootily told her to respect her elders and go back to the barbarian tribe she was raised in before the elevator doors opened and with her head held high, exited the elevator.
"I hate people like that," Delia said flatly.
Dmitri didn't say anything and stared down at the floor while Maris just squeezed his hand tightly. Delia put her hands on both of their shoulders and said in a caring tone:
"Come on guys, were here. Let's just try to forget that happened alright?"
Dmitri smiled sadly while Maris had a furious look in her eyes as they all stepped of the elevator and made their way towards the deck. When they finally got to the main part there seemed to be some kind of party going on which stopped any sort of possibility for Dmitri to earn any cash from pokemon battles.
"Great, what am I going to do now?" Dmitri shouted as he threw his hands up in the air.
"Wait maybe your hopes hadn't died in a fiery explosion. Come here," Delia hailed to her traveling companions.
When Maris and Dmitri walked towards her to find out what she was talking about, he recognized that same old woman from the elevator. He clenched his fist with his other hand while Maris looked on with concern in her blood red eyes.
"What is it Delia?" Dmitri asked his friend while still trying to keep his mind off the old woman.
"Well, it says here on this brochure some drunken guy gave me that there holding some sort of tournament at this party with the grand prize winner earning… $50,000 dollars!" Delia exclaimed incredulously.
Dmitri's eyes widened in shock as not only would that much money cover all the necessary items he would need on his it would also mean they could afford some top quality medicines if he spent it wisely.
"It also says that everyone who enters will be given $100 dollars for just entering. But they need to at least look like they're trying during their match or they won't be given any money," Delia stated as she continued to read through the brochure.
"So where's the registration at Delia?" Dmitri questioned his companion.
"Well it says here that its right next to the giant ice sculpture of…ugh, that same old woman on the elevator, whose name I now know is Mina Wright. Registration is over at 9:00p.m and its 8:30p.m right now," Delia said rather hurriedly as she stuffed the brochure in her back pocket and speed walked over to the ice sculpture.
Thankfully, there was only a short line so that meant they could focus on possible strategies to achieve victory after they registered. When Delia got to the front of the line the young, blonde woman taking the names seemed to stare disbelievingly at Delia before saying:
"The clothing store is down the corridor to your right. So if you don't mind there are some trainers who would actually like to enter this tournament of high prestige so vamoose!" the young woman shouted at Delia with contempt.
"I am here to enter the tournament so no, I will not vamoose!" Delia growled angrily.
"Listen kid, this isn't just your random battle with your no talent friends if you have any, this tournament-"
Delia had enough so she just slammed her student I.D. right on the table nearly snapping it in two. Luckily either the music was too loud or no one seemed to care as the partygoers just continued doing whatever they were doing and paid no mind to the offended battle ace. The blonde woman recovered from her shock as she tentatively reached out and grasped the I.D. in her hand. Looking it over the woman raised her eyebrows before writing down her name on the registration sheet and hesitantly handed Delia's I.D. back to her.
"W…W…Welcome to…to the tournament, Mrs. Shiina," the young woman said scaredly to the enraged battle ace.
Delia smirked before taking her entry number from the frightened blonde and told Dmitri she'd meet up with him when he's done.
"Sorry about Delia, she's usually a lot nicer when she's not angry," Dmitri told the woman apologetically.
"J..J..Just give me your name, take your number, and leave me be!" she shouted at Dmitri.
After he did so he met up with Delia who was standing off to the side and asked him what entry number he got.
"I got 13, what did you get?" Dmitri asked her.
"5," was the simple reply Dmitri got back.
"Feeling confident Maris?" Dmitri asked his partner who seemed downcast.
Maris gave a simple nod which he and Delia knew was nothing like her usual self. They pulled her into a hug to cheer her up and to try to ignore the people who viewed her as nothing but a beast.
"(Wow, we finally get to experience the world and the first thing we get to see is people discriminating against me for being some out of control monster,") Maris said bitterly.
"Don't let it get to you Maris, let's just try to have some fun right now ok?" Delia told Maris enthusiastically.
Maris didn't reply as man standing on top of a table yelled into a bullhorn for all tournament participants to make their way towards the lower deck area where the small battle arena is located.
"Well guys, let's show them who exactly their battling," Delia said softly.
Dmitri nodded happily while Maris, feeling a little better, held her fist out to Dmitri which he gladly fist bumped. All in all, the tournament seemed rather small with only a max of 15 participants and most of them wearing nice, fancy clothes while also having an arrogant air surrounding them. After the bullhorn guy gave a quick speech about fighting their best for the birthday girl's sake he called numbers 13 and 3 to the battlefield.
Dmitri took his side on the opposite side of the field while his opponent, a girl with chocolate brown locks and a formal red dress to go along with it, stood on the other side while she constantly tried to shoo away her butler.
"Leave me be! My hair and dress are fine!" she shouted angrily at the butler who recoiled in fear and left to Arceus knows where.
"This battle will be between Lady Catherine Wayne of Wayne Hotels and Dmitri Long of Unova's Battle Academy. The battle will be three 2:00 minute rounds and either side can achieve victory through knockout or by the judge' score if either side has failed to knockout the other. Combatants fight, now!" the referee shouted.
"Maris you're up," Dmitri told his partner who front flipped onto the battlefield and assumed a fighting stance which his opponent seemed to take an interest in.
"I would have expected nothing less from a student who attends the Battle Academy. You're pokemon is obviously well trained and powerful so I'll have to be careful," Catherine told Dmitri as she threw a great ball onto the center of the field to reveal a battle hardened Lucario.
"Seems I've underestimated these rich kids; I'd better stay on my guard just in case they have more surprises for me," Delia thought to herself.
"Aura sphere followed by metal claw," Catherine yelled to her pokemon who closed its eyes until a large, blue sphere formed in its hands.
"Quick Maris swift then use force palm…please," Dmitri kindly ordered his pokemon.
"(On it)" Maris replied as she fired a volley of razor sharp stars at the Aura Pokemon. Lucario didn't even register the stars hitting it and launched the orb of energy towards Maris who just launched a chi enhanced blast towards Lucario.
The attacks collided in a brilliant show of light and energy before they exploded and sent both combatants flying back. Lucario managed to right itself in midair and stood up as its feet dragged against the ground and sent concrete flying through the air. Maris wasn't as lucky as she had to get down on all fours to stop her momentum and collided with the wall next to Dmitri with a bone-crushing thud. Maris grabbed a piece of the concrete that had fallen beside her and angrily crushed it into dust before jumping back onto the battlefield, ready for more.
Catherine just seemed to smile slightly before regaining her composure and calling out for her partner to use metal sound. Lucario did so and opening its maw wide released a horrible sound wave that nearly caused all the windows to shatter and all bystanders to nearly lose their hearing. Maris gritted her teeth before letting out a loud shriek of pain as she was suddenly struck by a multitude of fierce kicks, punches, knees, elbows, and palm heels before bringing up her hands in a desperate bid to defend herself.
Maris, still feeling rather dizzy from the sound wave, only managed to barely block some of the attacks and struck blindly in order to give herself some distance. Eventually one of her wild haymakers managed to connect with her opponent; which gave her enough time to regain her senses and figure out what just happened. Maris's brief advantage came at a cost as her wild and undisciplined strikes allowed her opponent to connect with well timed, precise strikes towards its stunned foe.
Catherine shook her head in disdain before shouting out:
"If this what passes for talent at the Battle Academy nowadays then the Headmaster must really be crazy to let someone like you in," Catherine sneered at Dmitri.
Dmitri seemed to wince slightly and briefly looked down at his feet before narrowing his eyes at his opponent. Maris smirked slightly as this was the same look he had when they were facing Zach. Dmitri just smiled and nodded at Maris who thought "Yeah, we can do that Dmitri. No matter how crazy it seems."
The bell suddenly rang, signifying the end of the round with Lucario sending a shameful shake of its head toward the Martial Arts pokemon who only glared at her opponent in response.
"Well Maris I know it seems crazy, but do you still want to go through with it?" Dmitri asked his concernedly.
"(Hell yeah, let's make sure this guy is staring up at the ceiling by the end of this round,)" Maris shouted with vigor.
The bell rang starting round two and to the surprise of everyone watching, minus Delia; Maris charged into a battle like an enraged bouffalant and grasped a piece of the destroyed battlefield, stunning most of the spectators. Murmurs of "What sort of tactic is this?" and "What does this young man have in mind?" all rang throughout the crowd.
"Lucario end this. Use extreme speed," Catherine shouted apathetically.
"Just like my sparring match with Delia, but this time I'm not going to let it be a loss," Dmitri thought determinedly.
With her makeshift weapon held high, Maris rushed towards her opponent who was like a blur to mostly everyone watching, but not to her. As soon as Lucario was in striking distance, she simply threw the concrete slab at her opponent who plowed right through it and found to its surprise that its opponent wasn't there. It wouldn't have to wait long as the Aura Pokemon felt a large, concrete slab striking it in the side of the head; effectively knocking it off its feet and skidding to its master's feet.
"Oh no, girl are you okay?" Catherine asked her friend concernedly.
Lucario barely gave out a nod in response before something grabbed her feet, lifted her high up in the air, and with a great heave on Maris's part, slammed her face first onto the ground; sending concrete flying in all directions. Lucario simply couldn't hold it in anymore and howled in pain at the force of the impact which left a small crater in the middle of the battlefield.
"Quick Maris use drain punch!" Dmitri called out to his partner.
"Lucario get out of there!" Catherine shouted desperately to her fallen pokemon.
Just as Maris's energy covered fist made contact she was sent flying back as a crimson energy covered lucario who was now clutching her sides in pain.
"Flipping counter!" Maris thought angrily as she got back up grasping her arm which went numb from the last attack.
"Lucario sweetie, can you still fight?" Catherine asked her pokemon who painfully nodded.
"Maris, are you good to go?" Dmitri asked his partner who scowled and dropped into a fighting stance with her numb arm lying limp.
Dmitri called for his pokemon to use meditate, which Catherine rudely laughed at, and ordered her pokemon to swords dance followed by close combat and aura sphere. Maris inhaled and exhaled before she felt a familiar surge of power and charged at her opponent. Lucario skillfully danced until she was encased in a bright red energy and closed the distance between her opponent and threw a punch. Dmitri smiled a little bit which confused his opponent to no end as she thought he was happy he was going to lose.
"Maris now!" Maris gave an arrogant smirk before jumping high in the air and nearly sending Catherine's eyes flying out of their eye sockets. Lucario wasn't expecting this as she had predicted her stubborn opponent would try to endure the blow and follow up with a counter attack. Lucario overextended with her punch and lost her footing which nearly sent her falling down on her face before she felt a hard, sharp kick strike her in the back of the head. Lucario felt extreme pain before collapsing in a heap on the ground, staring up at her opponent.
"(Go on, finish me you ruffian!)" Lucario angrily barked at her smirking foe.
Maris looked at her for a little bit before breaking out into a fit of laughter. Lucario now was thoroughly confused by this spectacle as her foe chuckled some more before speaking once again.
"(Jeez, do pokemon owned by rich kids like you always try to talk like them?)" Maris cooed teasingly which caused Lucario to blush a deep red.
Maris simply extended her paw to Lucario who looked at it in confusion.
"(I do not understand this gesture,)" Lucario said with caution, expecting Maris to attack her.
"(Just give me your paw you dunce,)" Maris told her in an annoyed tone.
Lucario reluctantly extended her paw which caused Catherine to shout to her to get away, but Maris simply heaved her to her feet and smiled at her respectfully.
"(You're pretty strong, I hope to fight you again sometime rich girl,)" Maris said respectfully before walking back to Dmitri's side, who smiling happily at this spectacle.
"What happened to making her stare up at the ceiling?" Dmitri asked Maris teasingly.
Maris playfully nudged him in the ribs before the bell rang once again; ending round two.
Lucario stared at Maris confusedly before smiling and returning to her master's side.
"(Master, I forfeit,)" Lucario told her master through aura whose eyes widened in shock.
"WHAT? We can't just give up now! Not after that kid just gave up another round. Look honey, were ahead in points so just stay away from Mienshao's power in the last round and you'll be fine," Catherine told her friend sternly.
"(Look what happened to me last round Master. Although I have damaged Maris more than she has to me, it doesn't seem to negate her battle prowess at all. Master I hate to admit this, but if we continue to battle, especially in my condition, where going to lose,)" Lucario stated to her master matter-of-factly.
Catherine opened her mouth to speak before the bell sounded again, but this time neither pokemon entered the battlefield.
"Catherine please, give this match up and walk away. There doesn't have to be anymore fighting," Dmitri pleaded with his opponent.
"No way! You're just scared that you're going to lose so you're trying to bait me into losing with cheap words. If you're looking for an easy victory than you're going to have to look elsewhere!" Catherine roared at Dmitri.
Reluctantly, Lucario walked onto the field and to her surprise, Maris just stood by Dmitri, not moving. Dmitri shook his head sadly before looking at Maris who put a reassuring paw on his shoulder.
"Fine, then I forfeit," Dmitri shouted to the referee.
Everyone had a mix bag of reactions. Some were shocked that he would just walk away from a match while others seemed to gain a new level of respect for him. Delia nodded approvingly as she saw Dmitri and Maris walk away from the destroyed battlefield while her opponent stared at him with a stunned look on her face.
"Um… I guess the victor is Lady Catherine Wayne of Wayne Hotels which means she advances to the next round in the tournament," the referee shouted reluctantly to the crowd with few clapping in Catherine's victory.
"C'mon Maris, lets go back to the suite so we can get you patched up," Dmitri said to Maris dotingly.
"(Yeah, I'm really banged up right now, but at least I wasn't fighting a gigantic weasel,)" Maris replied playfully.
Catherine felt white hot rage. No one just walks away from a battle with her!
"Hey you get back here! We're not finished yet!" Catherine yelled at Dmitri as she tried to catch up to him.
"Well continuing on with the tournament. Will numbers five and nine please proceed to the battlefield," the referee yelled out.
Delia walked to her side of the battlefield while her opponent, an arrogant, well-built seventeen year old, sent out his houndoom. Delia smiled in response before gripping a pokeball at her waist and throwing it into the center of the battlefield.
3 hours later
Dmitri fortunately managed to remember he had no medicine on him and walked with Maris to the pokemon center, which was located on the 3rd floor. After Maris was healed they returned to their suite and decided to watch TV until Delia returned. They didn't have to wait long as Delia walked into the suite tossing Dmitri a backpack and a new pair of jeans, a black t-shirt, and a purple sweater with the yin/yang symbol on the back.
"As you can see, I won the tournament with moderate difficulty and I bought us some clothes, medicine, food, a tent, sleeping bags, and some outdoor shoes just in case we have to cross any natural obstacles. This leaves us with at least $10,000 dollars so we can set up an account at the pokemon center in the next town in Sinnoh so we can store it there," Delia said flatly.
"Good job out there by the way. You proved your skills as a trainer by knowing when your opponent is pushing their pokemon too hard and withdrew from the match. I have to tell you that she didn't look to happy and is still searching for you as we speak," Delia stated just as she heard knocking at the door.
"I'll get it; you just relax as you guys had a…rough day today," Delia said teasingly to them.
Maris glared at Delia, but she either didn't notice or didn't bat an eye as she went to the door and looked through the peephole.
"Maris you did great today. I'm proud to have a best friend like you as you know when enough is enough," Dmitri told Maris proudly.
"(Thanks, even though Lucario landed the majority of the blows, I have to say, most of them just felt like hitting your head against the car door. It hurts for a little bit, but you can shake it off and continue like nothing happened," Maris said to Dmitri flatly.
Dmitri didn't get to respond as Delia said:
"Dmitri, it seems you have two guests who want to see you," Delia told Dmitri in a confused tone.
Guests? Who could possibly want to see him?
Delia opened the door to reveal his angry opponent at the tournament and the old woman who wanted to put Maris in her pokeball.
"Catherine and Mrs. Wright, what brings you here," Dmitri asked reluctantly while he clutched Maris's paw.
Mina seemed to be depressed before saying:
"I would like to apologize to you on how I acted towards you and your friend. Why Catherine is here, well… only she knows," Mina told Dmitri as she walked away.
"Um…well…please, come in then Catherine," Dmitri said respectfully to Catherine.
Catherine didn't need to be told twice as she walked into the room, her hands on her hips, and got right into Dmitri's face. Delia stood by just in case she tried anything funny, but found to her surprise that Catherine just sat on the bed next to Dmitri and took his hand into hers.
"Look, you were right all along and I should have forfeited the match. I got knocked out in round two due to Lucario being in no shape to fight which made me a laughing stock. I also know that you're not on this cruise for fun so I'm going to ask you bluntly," Catherine said dignifiedly as she cleared her throat.
"May I please accompany you on your journey?" Catherine asked with puppy dog eyes.